UPDATE #1:
Syracuse, NY has found itself on the losing end on the division of sales taxes collected in Onondaga County.
Well, Onondaga County has spoken and the city of Syracuse (pop. 138,000) will receive a smaller share of Onondaga County’s (pop. (incl. Syr.):450,000) sales tax collections under a new agreement drafted by county legislators. The deal will cost Syracuse $10 million in the first year, but stabilizes the city’s share at 24% of the $200 million or so in current total county sales tax collections.
$10 million is a lot of cabbage, but ‘the city that brought you the shot clock’ can always say that it fared better than towns and villages in the county. Towns and villages in Onondaga County will see their share of sales taxes collected completely phased out by the second year of the ten year compact. Ouch.
The take away: localities are strapped for cash and sales tax is a common arena for the struggles between governments to intensify. The focus on revenues means increased pressure on sales and use tax compliance for vendors from all parts of the USA.
See:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrvo/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1645806/More.News.From.WRVO/Onondaga.County.To.Keep.More.Sales.Tax____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
UPDATE #2:
California Notice and Reporting Regs for non-collecting vendors are that much closer to law in the Golden state.
From a few days back:
As of May 5, 2010, AB2078, (which mimics the use tax compliance notice and reporting requirements recently passed as law in Colorado), was submitted to the floor of the California Assembly for its third reading. That means the bill is one step away the California State Senate and then maybe on its way to creating sales and use tax compliance headaches for you, Cali vendors!
_______________________________________________________________
UPDATE #3
We really wanted to get another mention of those New York strippers from earlier this week, but we thought: how, so soon? Well, here is a related item from a few months back that brings up its own sales tax compliance questions:
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/weird/031210-stripper-pole-stolen-in-fort-worth
So, some thieves grabbed cash and a pole from a club in Fort Worth. OK, but it was a strip club and a stripper’s pole. Its getting more interesting…
What really catches our eyes is the article’s statement that the pole stolen was at the club in a box, ready for resale. You know, like where else would you find a stripper pole for the living room , right? A strip club! duh.
OK, but how about defining that little piece of brass for sales tax purchases? Is it an item of tangible personal property to be carried about? Is it building materials to be incorporated into the real property otherwise known as your parlor? Does it change if the pole will be permanently attached to the ceiling in your playroom, or duct taped to the awning of your RV? What if you actually use if for a nice shiny fence pole? What if your wife provokes your neighbors by dancing nude on the fence pole? What if your husband does?
Whew, the possibilities are endless! But we digress…
The possibilities may sound a little ridiculous, (or maybe not), but the exercise does lead us to the take away: sales tax rules and regs are rarely specific enough to take all possible circumstances into account. Items like a simple brass tube can be interpreted as vastly different things.
Sales tax compliance becomes more and more complex as the products and services you sell gain in their own complexity.
